


For Science

by orphan_account



Category: Gravity Falls, Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bill Cipher Being Bill Cipher, Bill is GLaDOS basically, Crossover, Dark Humor, Dipper is scared and confused, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Injuries, Older Mabel and Dipper, Portal!AU, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-21 11:53:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3691281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The Enrichment Center would like to remind all test subjects to refrain from showing any signs of rebellion or free will. Yes, that does include you, Pine Tree."</p><p>(A Portal crossover, but no knowledge of the series is required to enjoy the story)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1, Part One

Dipper wakes up in a white room, his head pounding and radio music blaring from somewhere beside him. The ceiling, the feel of the mattress beneath him- everything feels wrong, somehow.

A paper-thin sheet slides off his body as he sits up and takes in his surroundings with bleary eyes. He’s encased in some sort of enclosure, all glass except a single white panel opposite the bed he’s sitting on. There’s a toilet and a side table trapped in here with him, looking as equally white and bland as everything else in the room.

The only interesting object is the radio resting atop the table, chirping out its little upbeat tune.

His fingers hit some sort of cloth when he reaches up to scratch at his head. Slowly, as if defusing a bomb, he takes the hat off and inspects it, feeling the bits of dirt stuck in the material here and there, lingering at the blue tree logo in the middle.

There’s a twinge from somewhere deep inside him, a feeling of nostalgia. When he rests the hat back on his head, it feels like it’s an essential part of him. But he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what it means.

Where _is_ he supposed to be, anyway?

He racks through his brain while panic starts to flare up in his chest, looking for any events or memories or... _anything_ , but all he knows is that his name is Dipper Pines. His name is Dipper Pines and he is trapped in a place that eerily resembles an insane asylum.

He doesn't need memories to know that's never a good sign.

The first idea that immediately springs to his mind is the radio. Since there is a signal that it’s broadcasting, it means that there’s a radio tower somewhere near here, hopefully run by other people. He feels the grip in his chest unclench. There’s hope.

Hope, yes, that is quickly extinguished when he tries fiddling with the radio’s dial. No matter what frequency he sets it to, it keeps looping the same upbeat song over and over, meaning that it’s probably automated and it’s been automated for who knows how long.

Dipper tosses the radio to the side and goes with the second most obvious plan instead. He goes over to the nearest glass panel, takes a deep breath, and starts to scream and pound.

Or, well, tries to anyway, since the only thing that comes out of his mouth is a hoarse rasp of a dying animal, and his fists are weak and trembling. His tortured throat chokes out a series of coughs that rattle his whole body and force him to the ground, wheezing. The throbbing of his head is ten times worse now, burdened with the idea that death is probably going to be on him sooner than he thought, and even though he knows nothing about himself the thought of dying still terrifies him, he doesn’t want to die he doesn’t want to die he’s _going to_ -

_“Heyyyy kid! You’re finally awake!”_

Dipper jolts to his feet, heart pounding in his ears as he jerks his head this way and that to find the source of the sudden voice. He finds the source- a loudspeaker attached to the ceiling a little ways from where he is- when the room fills with a gleeful laugh that’s occasionally cut off by short bursts of static.

_“You should see your face! Man, I’ve done this about [REDACTED] times now, and it still never gets old! Humans are hilarious! Even more when they’re scared! Anyway, since this is your first time…”_

There’s a brief pause entirely filled with the shuffling of paper, giving Dipper some time to stop freaking out and gather his thoughts. Though his fears of being left in this room forever have put a foot out the window, they’ve been replaced with entirely new fears that he’s stuck in this place with a complete lunatic.

He decides to stick with the facts instead. One: whatever this voice is, it is definitely not human. Two: there is a very high chance that there are other people in this place with him. Three: this voice needs him for something, some sort of group project. Why else would it have to wake up multiple humans? Which means it’s not going to kill him off needlessly.

With the throbbing of his heart no longer pulsing in his ears, he feels light years calmer than he had been a few moments ago. He even manages to coordinate his limbs well enough so that he’s able to settle himself on the bed, just as the voice comes back.

_“Okay, here we go: the Aperture Science Enrichment Center welcomes you, D- you know what, that’s a boring name, I’ll call you Pine Tree instead- to your new lifestyle that you have decided to partake in! The Enrichment Center thanks you for choosing to volunteer in our various tests to help improve modern-day science! Remember, testing is the future, and the future starts with you! The Enrichment Center would also like to remind you that we are not responsible for any nausea, brain damage, bleeding, hearing problems, burns, memory loss, psychological problems-”_

“Wait,” Dipper rasps, “What-”

He barely gets his first few words out before his vocal chords feel like they’re on fire again. Busy coughing, he doesn’t notice that the voice has stopped talking completely, even with the loudspeaker still on and popping with static every few seconds. The silence continues even after the coughing fades into thick wheezes.

 _“...The Enrichment Center would also like to remind you to hold your questions until_ after _the AI overseer has finished the instructions.”_ There’s another heavy pause. Dipper begins to feel sick with dread. He’s offended it. He’s offended it and now it’s going to drop a hundred knives from the ceiling and watch him bleed out on the floor.

When it continues speaking, its tone is filled with a maniacal lilt. _“But since you seem so eager to get to testing, I’ll let you off. Heck, I won’t even bother with instructions!”_ There’s a loud rustling of paper that causes the signal to go haywire with crackles and pops. _“Whoosh, there they go! All fluttering in the air! But this part is mandatory, so just hang with me for a second, Pine Tree. Ehem, all necessary nutrients needed in order to be in optimal testing condition will be provided whenever it is deemed necessary by the AI overseer. And though the Enrichment Center has done its best to provide the most pleasant testing experience possible, please remember that the Enrichment Center has not taken human stupidity into account, and that all injuries are not the fault of the Enrichment Center. Now, questions?”_

He takes a deep breath.

“S-ss-”

 _“Speak up, c’mon, you’re a healthy human.”_ A burst of laughter. Dipper grits his teeth, but determined to get rid of the looming threat of sudden death that may or may not be hanging over him, he squeezes the words out of his throat.

“S-sorry. About-” cough. “About bef-”

 _“Don’t worry about it!”_ The voice interrupts, bubbling with mirth. _“We’re even now, see what I did? Ha! Just get testing, kid!”_

Dipper doesn’t even have time to be dazed at the response as an oval-thing appears on the white panel in front of him, glowing at the edges with an orange hue and emitting a strange humming sound like an electrified fence would. Through it is some kind of room, surrounded with the same white tiles that line the room he’s in right now.

Dipper is hesitant, hovering his hand over where the glowing light is. He quickly darts his hand in and out of it and waits for his skin to light on fire. When all he gets is a ticklish sensation, he takes a deep breath and hops through.

His feet land with a thunk when they make contact with solid ground. Finding himself to be still in possession of all his limbs, he lets out an internal sigh of relief and adjusts the hat that’s still riding snug on the top of his head.

 _“The Enrichment Center ensures you that the inter-dimensional portals are perfectly safe for human use,”_ chimes the voice from up above him as he takes in this new room he’s been sent to. The layout is simple enough. There’s a door with a big X next to it, and a line of blue dots trail from the X to a red metal button on the ground. A little ways away from the button is a single cube that looks to be almost as big as he is and inscribed with a disconnected blue circle insignia on each of its faces. Dipper also takes note of the fact that the ‘portal’ he came through emits a blue light on the other side. He takes that information away and tucks it into the corner of  his thoughts.

The voice doesn’t come back until he successfully lifts the cube- which actually isn’t that hard to carry- onto the button. The X changes into an orange O and the door slides open without even as much as a whisper. A weird blue light covers the mouth of the door, making that same humming noise the portal was making before.

 _“Excellent!”_ the voice calls, and there’s a faint but audible clapping noise. _“I’m_ very _impressed. Some people don’t even get this far! They just wither away in their Relaxation Vault, crying and pleading for me to save them! Though this isn’t as amusing as that is, I do admit I like the progress going on here. Since the Enrichment Center encourages the use of positive reinforcement for test subjects, here’s your reward, kid!”_

A panel slides away to reveal a shelf stocked with bottles of water and packaged food Dipper doesn’t recognize. Like a madman, he immediately grabs for the water and gulps it down, relishing the feeling of the cold liquid soothing his parched throat. Next, he tears open the packets of food and eats it, not even caring about the plastic-like taste. When he doesn’t die after waiting a few moments, he stuffs as much of it he can carry into the pockets of his shorts while managing to fit a water bottle in as well. Once he deems his load satisfactory, he marches in through the door.

All of the baggage in his pockets get disintegrated the moment he passes through the light-blue shroud.

He swallows, thinking it must have been some kind of fluke. The voice had offered the food to him after all- it is within his rights to keep it. Dipper goes back and tosses a packet through the door, and watches, hands trembling, as it fizzles away the very moment it brushes the barrier.

As he drops to his knees, staring at the innocent sky-blue colors that dance around in front of him, he hears the voice chirp, _“The Aperture Science Emancipation Grill will vaporize any unauthorized material that may be detrimental to your testing experience, such as giving you the notion of free will.”_

_“Pick yourself up, Pine Tree- you’ve got testing to do.”_


	2. Chapter 2, Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper is not a happy camper. At all.

_"Oh, come_ on _Pine Tree, are you really going to keep this up?”_

Dipper turns a cold shoulder to the voice, and instead peers down the shaft that breaks the even, tiled floor. Far below, he can see the portal signaling him with its blue afterglow, a lantern in a churning sea of darkness.

_“Hey, I didn’t make the rules! It’s all standard Aperture protocol, kid, no choice but to follow it! Of course, the part about free will_ may _have been added in by me, and I was probably supposed to tell you about the Aperture Science Emancipation Grill earlier than I did but… Who needs free will! Free will’s the thing that may or may not lead you to hurl yourself into a pit full of spikes! Where’s the logic in that?”_

He’s learned to just let the voice’s words go in one ear and out the other, except when it’s actually providing test directions. Otherwise, it’s become background white noise, existing only to break the ever-growing silence.  

After taking a deep breath, Dipper clenches his teeth and leaps off the edge with the cube safely secured to his side. He doesn’t bother closing his eyes- the tests prior to this one has gotten rid of any fear he had of jumping from high ledges. Plus, a pair of what the voice calls ‘Long Fall Boots’ had been given to him a few test chambers back. As the name implies, they seem to be specifically designed for long falls- Dipper had fallen down quite a few heights already but had come out from each one unscathed.

He feels the now-familiar tightening of his gut when he zooms out the other side of the portal and abruptly finds himself about twenty feet in the air. The use of momentum had come into play a few chambers ago, and the voice explained that the portals didn’t affect the object going through it in any way, and that also included the object’s momentum.

So- in its own words- the harder you fall, the longer you jump.

Dipper lands on the raised ledge with ease and lets the cube roll out of his arms and onto the button. As it lights up, he can see the door that’s located on another raised ledge directly opposite him slide open, revealing the accursed emancipation grill and the chamber lift beyond it. Another portal also opens up beneath where the door is, giving him a direct route to the exit.

_"Oooh, the next chamber’s going to be_ exciting _. Provided that you don’t somehow manage to die on the way, of course, which would be no fun. But hey, if you somehow_ do _manage to kill yourself on the way there, I’ll be very impressed!”_

He still refuses to humor the voice with a response, even though a lump forms in his throat when it mentions death. Dipper still has no intention of dying, not anytime soon, but he does find himself beginning to wonder if all this will ever lead to anything. The tests have all been relatively safe and straightforward so far (except that one chamber with some kind of acid liquid, but it hadn’t been part of the test itself) but they don’t seem to serve any kind of purpose. Sure, the voice occasionally praises him or comments on his progress, but it never states what kind of progress he’s actually making.

Maybe this is some kind of never-ending nightmare. The whole thing does appear outlandish, interdimensional portals and all.

_“You’re no fun, Pine Tree,”_ the voice whines as Dipper lands on the other platform. _“Usually people would ask, ‘what kind of exciting’? Or, ‘Bill, I’m tired, can I please stop testing now’? The answer to the second question, by the way, will be a no and a mandatory adrenaline injection that’s been approved by Aperture Laboratories. Can’t have fatigue getting in the way of science!”_

Dipper halts mid-stride on his way to the chamber lift, tilting his head towards the ceiling. “...Bill?”

_“That’s my preferred name, yes,”_ it responds. _“Though officially, in the records, I’m CIPHER, which stands for Communicative Intelligence- but you know, that’s a mouthful, so we won’t bother with that now.”_ When Dipper enters the lift, it- Bill- adds, _“Here kid, I’ll even be nice and turn on some elevator music so that small brain of yours can process this new information without exploding!”_

To be honest, the smooth jazz music that starts to flow over the loudspeaker isn’t that bad. And it does clear his head a bit, and suddenly he’s stuck over the question of whether this is just way of mocking him or an intended act of goodwill. Either way, he can’t afford to let his guard down, not after i- Bill told him that this next chamber was going to be ‘interesting’. And since what Bill thinks is interesting is the sound of tortured screams and watching people writhe on the ground with pain, Dipper isn’t exactly optimistic.

Strangely, he’s already begun to think of what he thought of as ‘the voice’ before as just, Bill. And it hasn’t even been five minutes. But it seems cold to just call him (Dipper’s just assuming here, AIs don’t really have a gender after all) an ‘it’ when that ‘it’ now has a name and isn’t just a thing mocking him from up above. The addition of a name makes Bill look a fraction closer to Dipper’s level, instead of being the all-knowing supercomputer that he probably is.

So this is what denial feels like.

The room the lift opens to is such a departure from the other rooms that Dipper jolts back, head immediately swinging to the speaker above him. He waits for the obnoxious voice to echo through the dim and eerie chamber and say that there’s been some kind of mistake, to go back. Nothing comes. Instead the lift doors silently slide shut and drown the area in darkness.

He wavers in the hallway for a few moments before taking the first step into the dense greenery that swamps the floor. The same vegetation liters the walls and hangs from the cracked ceiling tiles like arms that are broken and lifeless. A damp chill clings to the air and sends shivers running up his spine.

Once he tears his eyes off the swaying vines and takes the time to actually look around the place, he realizes that there’s no solution, no test, no puzzle to be solved. There’s an exit door directly on the other side of the chamber, but when he attempts to pry it open it refuses to budge even a hair of a fraction. Looking through a hole that’s been punched out in the metal, he can see a functioning lift with its doors wide open, almost like it’s waiting for him to come to its embrace. But there’s no way in.

This is unexpected, interesting, and he wants to lie down on the ground and _scream_ because this is _not_ how things are supposed to go. He had gotten into a rhythm and had developed a sense of security, even, only to have that torn away from him.

That _bastard._

“ _Bill!_ ” Dipper screams, voice ripping through the numb silence.  There’s still no response except for the sound of his own quickening breaths. The lack of a reply might simply be Bill ignoring him, or it could be that this chamber isn’t hooked up to the rest of the intercom system. Or, worst case scenario, it might not be hooked up to anything at all, like a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. Cursing, he starts to dig around, viciously tearing up layers of roots and grime until his hands hit the tiled ground. As long as he finds a hidden button, a trap door, _something_ -

He keeps at it for who-knows-how-long, ripping out roots until the skin beneath his nails are caked with moss and bits of dried blood. It’s not a small room, after all. Even his hat- the only piece of evidence that proves that he had something before all this- is tossed to the side and forgotten about amidst his frantic movements.

When Dipper reaches up to wipe the sweat off his brow and discovers that he barely has the energy to lift his arms, he can’t help but say that this is truly the end. And to think that he had assumed all his perils were over.

If he were here, Bill would probably say that optimism is a trait discouraged by the Enrichment Center. Heck, maybe that had been the hidden message all along, and he was just a fool to not have caught on sooner.

Out of habit, Dipper reaches up to adjust his hat but ends up grasping hollow air instead. The hat really has no meaning for him anymore, since he’s going to be stuck down here, but he finds he kind of misses the warmth it provided, hugging his bushy head of hair. It helped him feel not as alone in this world of everything versus himself.

The pine tree insignia almost seems as if it’s beaming up at him when he finds it a short distance away in a spot that has just a little more shadow compared to the rest of the room. It hadn’t been an easy search because of that, made even worse with energy still draining out of his body bit by bit. But when a small flicker of warmth flares up in his gut when his hand brushes the battered cloth, the wasted time feels worth it.

“Hey,” says Dipper as he dusts off a layer of dirt from the surface of the hat. After perching it back on his head, he slides his back down the wall and curls himself into a fetal position, and stares blankly at the ground below his feet. The vegetation here is still untouched, but he doesn’t have the will to get up and start digging again.

...is what he’s about to think, but there’s something odd about the ground. He only catches a fleeting glimpse of it before it blends back in with the rest of the darkness, but something’s definitely strange about this particular area.

Slowly, joints creaking in pain, he drops to his knees and begins running his palms along the mossy floor. Hope swells in his chest and he forces it down because if this is all nothing, the weight of disappointment alone will be what kills him-

_It’s there._

A sob of relief rattles through Dipper’s body and he hurries to tear through the layer of moss. He feels his skin brush some sort of smooth metal that comes to life under what little warmth his hands have left. The moment he’s able to fully maneuver it out from its all-natural prison, the whole chamber is drowned in an uproar of blue and orange light.

He’s blinded in the process, and by the time his sight’s back to normal the device is humming happily beneath his grasp. Carefully, he turns it over in his hands as the tired fog in his brain dissipates and gears begin to turn.

The first thing he observes is the tube sloshing around glowing blue liquid that connects the device’s two main parts. One part has what resembles the barrel of a gun, which supported from underneath by a white metal piece with little spider leg appendages sticking out from the sides. A couple wires connect this part to the other white, capsule-looking part inscribed with what he assumes is the Aperture logo, and has a hole for a person to stick their arm in. That’s Dipper’s theory, anyway, since the whole thing looks to him like a sort of mobile missile launcher.

A bit of groping around in the arm-hole confirms his suspicions when his finger grip on what he guesses is a handle and a trigger, like one you’d find on a gun. There’s also some kind of scroll wheel inside. When rotated, the liquid inside the tube suddenly flashes from blue to orange, making Dipper jump. After the initial scare, he plays with it a few more times, watching the colors swing from one to the other in fascination.

Though most of it is made out of metal, it actually turns out to be very lightweight. With the help of some support from his other hand, he can lift it with ease and wave it around as much as he pleases. Whoever designed it clearly had everything from fashion to comfort in mind. It doesn’t feel clunky or awkward, but rather, like a part of himself.

And he has to admit- the thing looks sleek and modern. Cool, in other words.

Dipper practices swooshing it back and forth a couple more times, just to ensure that he won’t be dropping it on his foot anytime soon. Energy and excitement bursts in his veins as he readies himself to pull the trigger. For all he knows, it might end up exploding and burning his face off with acid. But even though Dipper’s considered himself a rather rational sort of person so far, right now, in this moment- he can’t bring himself to worry about what might happen _next_.

He squeezes the trigger.

Light flares as a ball of blue shoots out from the barrel and hurls into the opposite wall. Instead of splattering as one would expect it to, it expands and opens up a familiar oval, glowing blue from the sides. The center of it is foggy with swirling hues of light blue. Carefully, as if to avoid shattering reality itself, he reaches out to touch it. A ticklish sensation runs up his fingers, and fire sparks in his chest.

Dipper dashes over to the broken door, not even breaking pace as he switches the color of the portal-liquid to orange. Without hesitation he puts the opening of the gun into the hole, aims, and fires. His head swivels and the word _please_ fills his skull until it’s about to burst-

The blue portal’s clear. And it leads directly to the chamber lift, with its doors open wide. The artificial light illuminating is as welcome as the fresh, outside sun.

He has to physically force himself not to make a running dash towards it right away.

“See that, Bill?” Dipper shouts, voice cracking but full to the brim with a mixture of pride and hysteria as it echoes off the chamber walls. The words probably aren’t reaching anyone’s ears but his own, and that’s okay, because he’s scored a victory against this damn place. In spite of it all, he’s still in the running.

Once he’s inside the lift and it begins to murmur all around him, taking him up to whatever test is next, all the exhaustion and fatigue crashes on top of him like an avalanche. Head throbbing, he sits and leans against the wall, head between his knees.

And he blacks out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the lovely kudos and comments! I hope you're enjoying reading the story as much as I like writing it~ This story won't be all Dipper getting hurt, I promise ;w;

**Author's Note:**

> I was gonna actually post another BillDip story I've been working on but this crossover literally hit me like a bullet train so I just jot it all down and here we are. I'm BillDip trash, seriously, take me awayyyy
> 
> Also if you haven't checked out Portal I highly recommend it- especially for the humor, if nothing else. The writing is seriously brilliant. But the puzzles are super fun, too!
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read, and if you could leave a kudos or a comment I'd really appreciate it! Hopefully I'll be back with more soon!


End file.
